When functioning normally, the heart produces rhythmic contractions and is capable of pumping blood throughout the body. However, due to disease or injury, the heart rhythm may become irregular resulting in diminished pumping efficiency. Arrhythmia is a general term used to describe heart rhythm irregularities arising from a variety of physical conditions and disease processes. Cardiac rhythm management systems, such as implantable pacemakers and cardiac defibrillators, have been used as an effective treatment for patients with serious arrhythmias. These systems typically comprise circuitry to sense electrical signals from the heart and a pulse generator for delivering electrical stimulation pulses to the heart. Leads extending into the patient's heart are connected to electrodes that contact the myocardium for sensing the heart's electrical signals and for delivering stimulation pulses to the heart in accordance with various therapies for treating the arrhythmias.
Cardiac rhythm management systems operate to stimulate the heart tissue adjacent to the electrodes to produce a contraction of the tissue. Pacemakers are cardiac rhythm management devices that deliver a series of low energy pace pulses timed to assist the heart in producing a contractile rhythm that maintains cardiac pumping efficiency. Pace pulses may be intermittent or continuous, depending on the needs of the patient.
When a pace pulse produces a contraction in the heart tissue, the electrical cardiac signal following the contraction is denoted the captured response. A pace pulse must exceed a minimum energy value, or capture threshold, to produce a contraction. The capture threshold is defined as the lowest pacing energy that consistently captures the heart. It is desirable for a pace pulse to have sufficient energy to stimulate capture of the heart without expending energy significantly in excess of the capture threshold. Thus, accurate determination of the capture threshold is required for efficient pace energy management. If the pace pulse energy is too low, the pace pulses may not reliably produce a contractile response in the heart and may result in ineffective pacing. If the pace pulse energy is too high, the patient may experience discomfort and the battery life of the device will be shorter.
For the reasons stated above, and for other reasons stated below which will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon reading the present specification, there is a need in the art for methods and systems for automatically adjusting the pacing energy for pacing pulses delivered to the patient. The present invention fulfills these and other needs.